Karnataka govt. accuses Centre of adopting ‘step-motherly attitude’ towards State on AIIMS issue

Bengaluru: Karnataka Medical Education Minister Sharan Prakash Patil on Monday accused the Centre of adopting a ‘step-motherly attitude’ towards the State on the issue of setting up an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and upgrading existing government medical colleges.

He said the Centre was not responding to the state government’s repeated requests to set up the premier medical institution in Raichur district.

“All the states in India have got AIIMS except for Karnataka and Kerala. The Centre has to decide. This is a step-motherly attitude towards Karnataka,” Patil said responding to a question raised by JD(S) member K A Thippeswamy in the Legislative Council.

Thippeswamy charged the state government with “doing nothing” to get an AIIMS in Raichur and upgrade the existing government medical colleges to offer tertiary healthcare to people under the ‘Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana’.

Patil dismissed the allegation and said he and Minister for Science and Technology N S Boseraju had met the then Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and requested for establishing an AIIMS in the State.

He said Chief Minister Siddaramaiah wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and even personally handed over the request letter to sanction AIIMS but to no avail.

The Minister said the state government has identified land for AIIMS in Raichur and is ready to provide “whatever is required” to set it up.